2008 National Champ

scoring more points than your opponent = lucked out?

No one in their right mind puts 2004 Utah in a one-off championship game over undefeateds USC, Oklahoma and Auburn. I wish the team had gotten a stronger opponent than #19 Pitt but short of an 8 team playoff, Utah wasn’t getting a chance to play for the title. I’m fine with that even though I…[Read more]

Depends on how much you value his time at Weber regardless of his record. Yes, he has CEO experience and had to do it on a shoestring budget. At the same time, Utah has kept Scalley from striking out on his own and getting that same experience. Based on where things stand right now, I think if Utah said that Scalley not ever being a HC was a…[Read more]

That’s a nice story that parochial school fans tell themselves. Oklahoma wins the Orange Bowl against Washington or the next best available opponent and the winner of a hypothetical parochial school/UW Holiday Bowl doesn’t matter. Yet the same pollsters who would have been willing to move #2 to #1 couldn’t bring themselves to move #4 to #1 after…[Read more]

We all need to realign our priorities from time to time whether it’s faith, family / work goals, etc. The worst thing though is to realize that priorities have changed but you stick with what you’ve got because that is easier than changing to meet your new reality.

Take that from someone who has spent close to 30 years in construction…[Read more]

That’s part of being named Head Coach in Waiting. He wasn’t promised to get an interview so that he wouldn’t look at Alabama (which wanted to interview him under Saban) or any other school that might come in with an offer. He was promised the job barring any scandals between then and whenever Whitt moves on.

Short of a new AD who won’t honor…[Read more]

I’m on your side on this one. I really am. I’m trying to nibble around the edges and take baby steps to maybe turn one acolyte at a time towards the TRUTH. Just hoping that I can create a trickle, then a creek, a stream and finally a river that will break the dam of “whatever he does is always right and the results or the methods are not…[Read more]

Every year there are missed tackles, receivers wide open, QB’s extending plays because D Ends lose contain. It just looks worse right now because it’s in the moment AND there isn’t a margin for error. Neither of the Skattebo breakaway runs are backbreakers in a 38-14 game but they absolutely make the difference when down by 1 or up by 3.

The D…[Read more]

of those, 3, maybe 4 had realistic playoff aspirations. So is Utah underperforming like SC, FSU, Oklahoma State and maybe NC State? Or are they a couple of years away but hoping for lighting in a bottle like the rest of the list? Because I was led to believe that this was a playoff or bust season.

I know i talk about UW more than people like but that’s what I grew up with so it makes for easy analogies.

In 1984, UW had what should have been universally recognized as a National championship season (apparently the trophy got lost on the way to Montlake. Maybe someone knows where it’s being kept and can return it to it’s rightful owner)…[Read more]

You’ve got a top 20 defense in both scoring and yards allowed. The problem isn’t on both sides of the ball. One side is just having to shoulder an extra load because of the ineptitude of the other.

The two P4 wins were built on the defense either directly scoring points or putting the offense in position for easy points. The two losses, the…[Read more]

It is a fallacy. If you are the underdog, you are expected to lose so you can only get positive outcomes. You either did as expected or you outperform. When you are the favorite you can only get negative outcomes. People want positive so they put mythic qualities on David beating Goliath.

The same fallacy exists when people talk about coaches…[Read more]

I also said 9-3 but thought the issue would be all of the new faces and places that were going to have to be dealt with. Instead, it’s been the teams Utah should be most familiar with that have been the problem.

Finishing 3-3 would represent an epic coaching failure. Roughly the same team went 8-4 last year against a tougher schedule and with…[Read more]

are you Jay Hill’s agent? I kid, but at the same time, Hill would be a local hire for a program with National aspirations. There’s nothing wrong with a Utah guy running the Utah program but swapping Scalley out for Hill just sounds like an older version of the same.

When some of us talk about doing a search and if Scalley is the best guy run…[Read more]

Urban also had a pretty good ability to identify future head coaches who had the same aggressive philosophy that he did. Between Whitt, Mullen, Sanford and I think at least one more that I’m not remembering off the top of my head, that 2003/04 coaching staff had a lot of talent on it who also became HC’s in a very short period of time…[Read more]

They’ve decided that Rising is the best chance for the team to achieve it’s goals which is fine. At the same time, it was incredibly shortsighted to not have a package ready for Wilson and give him a planned drive in the 2nd quarter so that you can continue his development with a set script of plays that he is comfortable with. Questionable…[Read more]

He’s also said that he didn’t see himself coaching into his 60’s. That “I’m not going to be around after ___” number seems to get extended every time another contract gets signed.

That’s the key.

O’Toole has another year and then could apply for a medical after that. O’Toole definitely hasn’t done enough to move on to the next level yet.

And there’s a vocal part of the OSU fanbase that wants a different coach. Which is what happens when fans delude themselves into believing that only championships EVERY year are acceptable outcomes.

It’s a good thing Utah doesn’t have any fans who spend the whole offseason trying to convince anyone who will listen that championships are not…[Read more]